The executive council, which is led by Blackstone Group LP’s Stephen Schwarzman, planned to inform the White House Wednesday that it was disbanding before making the announcement public, according to a report.

The future of Canada's more than one million automotive jobs has emerged as a critical part of what's at stake at the NAFTA renegotiation table in Washington after the U.S. chief negotiator targeted the sector on the first day of talks Wednesday.

The readout of the July 25-26 meeting, at which policymakers voted unanimously to keep rates unchanged, also showed the Fed increasingly ready to begin reducing its $4.2 trillion portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities.